Film Financing Is An Art And Science

I have come to believe through experience there is an art and science to dealing with independent film financing

. The art is being able to secure funding to make a film and the science is being able to put that money to work in a smart way.

It's a crying shame when a filmmaker is able to secure money to make their movie only to burn through it before they can ever finish it. Poor budgeting can shut down a movie during filming or in post production.

The art of film financing can be difficult for movie makers because they are looking at their project from a completely creative perspective. Investors see making movies is a business. Filmmakers should package their movie with investors in mind to increase the chance of attracting money. Unless you're in a good position to totally self-fund a movie you're going to need to apply business principals to attract other people's money (OPM).

Film investors are risk takers because it's not like investing in a film is a conservative investment strategy. They are investing in a script, director, cast, and production crew. What motivates movie investors to put hard earned money into financing a movie differ. Some reasons people invest I have experienced are they want to hit the filmmaking lotto investing in a indie movie that turns into a Hollywood blockbuster, they have always dreamed of being involved with the making of a movie, or they believe in a filmmaker's talent (that's the best in my view). Or all three!

Before you begin approaching investors do a few things first. Get a website or blog up about your upcoming movie. Post what the movie is about, who is involved, and how movie investors can contact you. It does not have to be flashy. Basics are good. A movie poster, full synopsis of what the movie is about and any other information you want people to know about your movie.

Put together a clean and crisp film investor package and save it on PDF to be sent out via email. I like to include a mock movie poster (always important to have artwork), a killer tagline (snappy slogan or sentence used to hype a movie), a brief synopsis (summary of the plot), and any letters of attachment from key cast and production crew. When somebody gets serious you can send them a full version of the screenplay, rough budget and what compensation movie investors are being offered.

The science of independent film financing is how to budget money once you get it. It's a lot harder then it might sound. Sadly, many indie movies go unfinished because the filmmaker runs out of money. Sure, there are times a "Force Majeure" (superior force) comes into play stopping a movie from ever getting finished. Most of the time it simply boils down to poor budgeting. A film budget in my opinion is as important as the screenplay.

Film financing takes going into in greater detail then I can do in this post. I recommend you join MovieBizCoach.com (it's FREE) to learn how industry professionals handle movie financing and budgeting. I also recommend reading The First Movie Is The Toughest: A Filmmaker's Story Of How It Was Done (plug for my own book). You would be amazed that budgeting begins before you should type one word of your screenplay. Think movie budget first, screenplay second. This is indie filmmaker Sid Kali typing FADE TO BLACK.

by: Sid Kali.

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